In 1965, in his studio in Warsaw, Opałka began painting a process of counting – from one to infinity. Starting in the top left-hand corner of the canvas and finishing in the bottom right-hand corner, the tiny numbers were painted in horizontal rows. Each new canvas, which the artist called a 'detail', took up counting where the last left off. Each 'detail' is the same size (196 x 135 cm), the dimension of his studio door in Warsaw. All details have the same title, "1965 / 1 – ∞"; the concept had no end, and the artist pledged his life to its execution: 'All my work is a single thing, the description from number one to infinity. A single thing, a single life.'
I found his work today while casually flipping through an old conceptual art book while on the phone. I immediately ended the conversation when i saw his work. It looks so much like my hexadecimal paintings its eerie. Upon my discovery I quickly looked up his wiki only to find that he passed on only a week ago. chills.
Goodnight Sweet Prince
Roman Opalka
Roman Opalka
August 27, 1931 – August 6, 2011
